I wanted to do a quick follow up during this difficult time and provide some links to small business stimulus options. I have also posted my email from March 23rd below in case it was missed. Things are pretty crazy right now, but It is important to stay abreast of government programs and assistance that may be available to you. Its also important to maintain your website and be responsive to clients needs. We will get through this and how we conduct ourselves at this time may play a powerful role on how our clients interact with us in the future.

The labs are currently not shipping orders, so you should be setting up self fulfill or digital download options.

It is important to make this switch now, as the labs are currently not able to remain active due to virus concerns and we are not sure when they will be able to start shipping physical products again. If you need help changing price groups or setting up a self fulfillment line please reach back to me. It's pretty straight forward to setup a new pricing group in the admin section with the "Pricing" link in the blue left menu when logged in and then "Album Pricing" and switch to the new price group. Note that we do have bulk pricing for multi image downloads and this is a great way to incentivize larger digital download orders.

We are continuing to explore marketing opportunities

Many of our clients are running discount mailers for old digital files and seeing a flow of orders coming in. Right now people are home and are still engaging online. There is still money to be made. You can easily export emails from our backend in order to run mass mailers with companies like Mail chimp. They actually run free programs for list of under 2000 names. It's also a great time to work on marketing, design updates, social media, website text, automated email follow up strategies etc. I'll be sending more emails to elaborate on these ideas.

You need to plant seeds and continue your marketingOn our side we are working on an internal mass mailer program that we hope to be able to complete so you don't need to outsource your mass mailing down the road. It will have some really cool integrated functions that will make marketing a breeze.

Independent Photographers and small businesses. The pay check protection program probably applies to you. Make sure you take advantage of it. The loan will be fully forgiven if the funds are used for payroll costs, interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities (due to likely high subscription, at least 75% of the forgiven amount must have been used for payroll). Loan payments will also be deferred for six months. No collateral or personal guarantees are required. Neither the government nor lenders will charge small businesses any fees.

$10,000 emergency grant – no obligation to repay the grantIn general, all of the following entities that have suffered substantial economic injury caused by a disaster provided they were in existence on January 31, 2020:Businesses with fewer than 500 employees, Cooperatives, ESOPs, and tribal small businesses with fewer than 500 employees, Sole proprietors, independent contractors, Most private nonprofits

Please feel free to email me back to share any ideas, opportunities or concerns that we can address.

The Corona virus is creating a new reality for all of us very quickly.

We have just been informed that our third party core lab is closed as of today until April 3rd and possibly longer.

We have options. Many of you already use our self fulfill platform and alternatively a full digital program can be put in place.

If you are using our partner lab, we urge you to implement a temporary new price group for digital and self fulfill products only. The world is going more digital and we already have many clients who have been successfully running pure digital delivery models.

Our core team has been working remotely together for over 15 years now and are available to assist you. If you want to discuss mailer strategies or need help implementing the digital pricing, please reach out to us. Clearly events are mostly shut down now but digital buying is still happening and some of our clients have already started doing marketing mailers and are seeing orders come in.

Going forward our thoughts are on putting together plans to help us come back stronger to help make up for lost gains. Many of you will likely have time to work on marketing concepts that may include how to bring in new business, how to maximize on current business and how to improve over all. Improving marketing and promotion services to allow for a market edge when the time comes. We like to hope it will be weeks ahead, but months are seeming more likely.

We have an entirely new email platform in development that will allow an amazing amount of power to our users. Feel free to reach out directly to me with this email and we can schedule a call if you would like to help in development. I am happy to discuss ideas you have and how we can maintain a competitive advantage when things come back to normal.

In the meantime stay safe. Stay positive and stay hopeful for a speedy recovery for all.

There are several ways to market your services. One of the easiest and cheapest ways to get the word out is by distributing flyers in full color with a few of your best photos covering a range of events and calling cards. Include details of the services you offer, your contact details and the address of your online portfolio for prospective clients to view the other samples of your work. Also include information that your images can be purchased online as stock photographs.

Another easy and cost effective way to advertise your services is through social networking. By tapping into popular social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, you can share updates and sample photos to a large number of people all at once.

Selling your images is not as complicated as it seems. It’s a matter of knowing what your options are. Aside from the most obvious, which is being hired to take photographs for various functions and events, selling on-site prints at different events is one of the simplest ways to make extra money. Yet it holds the biggest potential and possibility since the advent of the world wide web, stock photography.

Asmuch as possible, establish yourself as an official photographer for an event and set up a booth with an assistant with tools such as a computer and printer to enable you to print out on-site photographs to allow other spectators and attendees to purchase your prints. Always make sure you give out calling cards and flyers to anyone that shows interest and could be a prospective client.

There are literally a lot of online sites to choose from where you can upload your stock images and you’ll be amazed with just how much income an image can generate. It’s a lot easier nowadays, you don’t need special software to upload and sell images and you have the flexibility to choose just how flexible your copyright agreement with the various sites can be. Our site, PhotoStockPlus, specializes in events photography which makes it really easy and straightforward for both the photographer and the buyer.

PhotoStockPlus has an annual membership fee with lots of options to choose from on what type of membership you’d like to have. Usually this would include a 500MB printing account that can easily store about 10,000 images. We give periodic webinars that offer you tutorials on a range of topics that help you maximize the use of the site among other things. Aside from this, there’s a watermark tool that will identify your images as your own. It also offers continuous helpful weekly tips and tutorials related to the trade that will enhance your skills.

Being an event photographer is not easy. But it offers you flexibility in your time, you’re your own boss, and you get to do what you love the most. There is so much potential in earning from photographing events, there is practically an event happening everyday. As long as you work hard, keep developing your skills, knowing what your clients want, and always do quality work. With all this, you can never go wrong.

The art of photography is loaded with thousands of tips to help you make your images look more appealing. Here are several suggestions you can follow to capture great looking shots:Do not forget you can also shoot in vertical format – the most common way to hold a camera is right side up which would mean a horizontal framing when taking a shot. But by turning the camera on its side, you shift the framing into a vertical format which can greatly affect the visual presentation of the scene. When shooting your subject, remember to try using the vertical framing to produce more composition options.

Move your camera angle to not include distracting background elements – when not in a studio setting, you may not have complete control over your surroundings. Certain background elements might appear distracting but cannot be removed from the setting. A trick to eliminate it from showing up in your frame is to angle your camera in such a way that the distraction is not within the lens’ line of vision.

Be aware of shutter lag – shutter lag is the delayed recording of the image after clicking the shutter release button. This is a common issue with digital cameras compared to film although in the recent years, changes have been made to lessen this lag especially with high-end cameras. Be aware that when you press that shutter button, the response of the camera to take the shot may not be immediate. This could pose a problem for scenes with fast action such as sports photography since by the time the camera records the image, the moment most likely would have already slipped away. You can attempt to avoid this issue by anticipating the action in the scene so you can time yourself as to when to click the shutter button.

Do not be afraid to use creative blur – by default, compact cameras are designed to have as much of the scene in clear focus. This is great for regular snapshots where you would normally want the overall image to be sharp. There are times, however, when blurriness can make a photo more attractive and interesting. You can blur parts of an image by either using a big aperture size to create a shallow depth of field (if your camera allows exposure adjustments), or by using motion blur such as panning. Creative blur also makes fantastic abstract images.

Push yourself to be more unique – with the boom of digital photography is the thousands of people suddenly making photography a hobby or a business and multiply that with the thousands of images being made everyday and you get millions of photos being uploaded online or printed. Due to this sheer number of shots, it is very easy for many of them to come out looking very similar to each other. Cliché shots are overwhelming and the last thing you need is to shoot like the rest. Constantly strive to make your shots more creative, give them your special flair.

Upon setting up your work scheme, it’s time to consider the best way to promote and sell your business and work. Advertising is an important aspect of any business and is responsible for generating profits for your business. Aside from advertising, you also have to place importance on building your reputation as well as researching and finding possible clients for your business. You have to allot time and energy at the beginning to market and get the word out about your business.

A proper market strategy is needed to know your main objectives to create facts about your specific target market. These include market size, sales potential, assessment of your competition, information on available competitive pricing and market practices.

To cite an example, your specialty might be nature and wildlife photography. This means your client base may consist of art directors and picture editors of travel magazines, nature magazines, basically anything related to clients who require these types of content. Start by creating a list of potential clients with this precise need and decide their levels of demand.

Create a portfolio of your best work. It must cover the full range of your expertise and showcase your talent and versatility in your field. This will be the best example of your work for future clients and will be the deciding factor as to whether or not they will hire you.

Public relations and promotional strategies work hand in hand with any budding photography business. You can organize press releases to herald any significant achievement you have accomplished in your related field. Take full advantage of social network media such as Facebook or Twitter to do some self-promotion. Create a Facebook page where a large number of people can be updated about your business all at once. It would also be a great way for you to get feedback and support from your ‘followers.’

Socialize and create a network with buyers, existing clients and potential clients. You can even offer the use of your work to any local benefit for charity or non-profit organizations. Even offer your services to teach photography short courses or tutorials to get your name out in the community.

Another great way to increase publicity for your work is to give out prints of some of your images to galleries and museums. Also try to have a local establishment display your work such as a lobby or a waiting area as this would be beneficial in showcasing your talent to attract likely clients.

If your budget allows it, you can also use various advertising media to market your business. You can try direct marketing, brochures, sponsorship and the like. This way you can reach a lot more prospective clients.

But there’s no better way to promote your business than by good old fashioned word of mouth. It’s the kind of advertising that achieves far better results in building a loyal client base based on your work. It assures you that all your clients who have spread the news of your business are satisfied customers and they freely recommend you to their friends and family. This is the most effective way of spreading the word.

During winter, the world is blanketed in white and entire landscapes change appearance. The temperature of the air also drops to the point where you have to take certain measures to keep warm. Shooting in winter can be challenging especially because you have to make sure your camera equipment is well protected. Not only must you concentrate on getting a great shot, but you must also be aware of how the winter conditions are affecting your gear during the shoot. The following are some tips on how to make use of this magical season to create breathtaking shots:

Take advantage of the winter sunrise/sunset – it is not only during the summers at the beach that you can capture great sunsets. Winter sunsets can be equally magnificent. Make sure you have spare batteries that are fully charged. Take a tripod along with you to avoid camera shake. Make sure you set up as early as possible because the winter sun can set earlier than usual.

Understand the properties of snow- natural lighting can add a magical touch to the beauty of snow. Snow can bounce light into every possible corner, like a giant light reflector. Aside from its reflective properties, it can also melt, clump up into formations, it can be shaped into snowmen or snowballs, and it is very cold. There are many ways of shooting snow as the subject, from capturing tiny snowflakes in mid-air, to frost formations on glass panes, to a soft snowy hillside.

Have fun – snow can help you to loosen up your subjects who are camera shy. Have them play in the snow and take this opportunity to take great candid shots. This will also make them more relaxed. You can move away from them and zoom in on your subjects to give them more space, and try to capture them doing an activity such as having a snowball fight, making snow angels or building a snowman.

Make use of colors- the dramatic change snow brings to a scene can be used to your advantage. For example, bright clothes will stand out against the pristine white snow. Actually, any color would be accentuated since snow will act like a blank canvas. Unlike the colors of other seasons such as spring and autumn, be extra careful with your white balance because winter snow is predominantly white.

Shoot the trees – lush, green trees can turn barren in winter and branches there were once full of leaves are now stark and empty against the sky. Trees can be successfully used to enhance a landscape shot, whether it is a lonely looking tree against a vast expanse of white or a row of evergreens heavy with snow.

Capture the atmosphere – winter shots can be very atmospheric since the environment can sometimes be unrecognizable when covered with a layer of snow. Fog can add to the misty soft look and an ordinary setting can suddenly be transformed into a fairytale scene. Photos that capture this winter atmosphere can trigger an emotional response from the viewer.

Sports photography is one of the most challenging fields in the craft. It has to capture the pure essence of victory and defeat among the athletes chosen as a subject. The image should be able to reflect the time spent in practice to the actual performance and the glory of winning and the bitterness of losing. The events in sports photography are not random occurrences and a sports photographer is always at the right place, at the right time and ready to capture a rare moment that can happen in an instant. It takes more than just being present with a camera at any major sports event. You’ll need cunning and a practiced eye as well.

Here are a few helpful tips in getting you started on your way to becoming an accomplished sports photographer:

Know your sport -you have to literally be familiar with the sport you plan on covering. It is necessary that you know more than just the basics of the sport, and ideally be well enough to play it yourself. It’s helpful to know the strategy and the rules of the game to know when athletes are performing considerably well. Knowing the sport you are covering means you are familiar with the structure of the game .It helps to be able to be in the athletes’ shoes and predict what next move is coming. As the saying goes, sports is not just about being physical, it’s a mind game as well. You constantly have to be at the edge of your seat anticipating every move to capture that one in a lifetime moment that could be in the annals of the game’s history.

Keep an eye out for the player that offers more potential to give you the perfect photograph – with everything happening so fast in every sports event, it’s difficult to keep abreast of everything that’s happening around you. Focus on specific players such as the crowd favorites to get some key shots, but don’t forget the rest of the team. Try to capture images periodically in between stretches of a given time. Don’t dwell on the good shots you missed, instead focus on what’s happening at the moment.

Get into the rhythm of the game. Learn to switch your attention from one player to the other. Keep to where the action is. Usually the best photos are captured during these moments. Once you fall into the rhythm, opportunities will just fall into your lap.

Know your equipment – whether it’s a professional sport event your watching or your child’s Karate match, make sure you come already acquainted with your camera. Practice makes perfect. You can learn valuable tidbits by volunteering your services at any relative or friends sporting event. So when the time comes that you’re going to start using your skills, you’ve got a lot packing.

For team sports, divide your attention between the key players and the other players. Every team member contributes to giving you the best images, that’s why it’s called a team sport; everyone contributes to the success of winning.

Be prepared – always anticipate what could come next. Make sure you remove you lens cap, adjust your ISO setting, check your flash, check if your battery is fully charges, clean your lens, etc. Rare moments are just that, rare. In sports events, remember that you are not just a spectator, you may just be there to record one of the land mark moments that makes and athletes career and alter the history of sports forever.

Consider the weather conditions and prepare for either the glare of the sun, wetness of rain or the dampness of dew. Whatever may come, make sure your equipment won’t let you down.

A DSLR camera with a telephoto lens is a must for serious sports photography. A simple point and shoot camera just won’t cut it. It’s mainly for portrait shots and it would be handy for shots before and after the game. Fast moving shots are best captured by the former. A lot of people are frightened with the very thought of a DSLR camera. In actuality, it works pretty much the same way as any point and shoot camera when set in fully automatic. The main difference is, it offers a lot more flexibility in features and characteristics that you won’t get in a simple point and shoot.

Anticipate shutter lag – when you click on your shutter button, it may take a few milliseconds before the shutter moves and the image is recorded. This tiny span of time might cause you to miss capturing that crucial moment of action. Be very familiar with your camera beforehand so you can anticipate shutter lag and compensate for it during the event. It is often most obvious when you’re using the camera’s auto focus. To avoid this, use manual focus instead and half-press the shutter-release button so that the focus is locked on a certain area.

Shoot the fans – the audience is a huge part of the world of sports and more often than not, images of fans can provide a great glimpse into what the sporting event is all about. Whether it is a close up shot of a man rooting for his team or a large crowd in the bleachers, you can capture several instances of energy, excitement and tension.

Sports stir many emotions for the audience. The same goes for the images that you capture. They live long past the athletes themselves. It may well be the very core of an era. This is the type of impact you aim to achieve through your work. Whether it’s victory or defeat that you’ve captured, each image should inspire for many years to come.

Location and timing – luck has nothing to do with sports photography. Being at the right place, at the right time is already a given, it’s how you position yourself and how observant you are when it comes to anticipating what could happen next.

Don’t be shy when getting permission to get yourself in place to capture great shots. The worst thing that could happen is that they’ll say no. But it never hurts to ask. Not all side lines in every sports event is reserved for the media. For smaller sports events you have to learn to know where to position yourself for better access to those goals, three pointers or hole in ones.

Pets have always been known to be a part of the family. Specializing in pet photography has never been more lucrative and there is a growing demand in the market for this field. It’s not unusual for pet lovers to pamper and spoil their pets, and having them photographed by a professional is another much sought out service for pet owners to indulge in.

It’s always a great start to incorporate something that you love with work, this way you’ll never think of what you do for a living as work. It would be a double delight to love both photography and animals. The challenges of beginning a pet photography business would be welcoming.

Turning a fast profit in a pet photography business is easy and hassle free. It doesn’t cost much and you don’t need a studio in the initial stages of the business. All you need for a start is a digital camera, an eye for the trade and a fondness for animals. The trick of the trade is a cinch to remember, just think 4 P’s – pets, patience, practice and plentiful pictures. Patience is needed when it comes to dealing with the short attention span of animals. Always have handy toys and treats to capture and hold the attention of your subject.

A pet photography business will not need a big space when setting up a studio. Just make sure you have an accessible entrance/exit, a waiting room to make the pets as well as their owners comfortable, and extra space for pet props and paraphernalia. Your other photo equipment can be stored in a smaller storage area to leave your limited space free of clutter that can get in the way of your work. Try to set up shop near a pet supply store or by a pet grooming service to ensure you have a constant supply of clientele.

Another tip to get you on your way to making your business profitable is to get to know the people in the pet industry businesses such as pet groomers and pet store owners. Start networking with them and help each other out. You provide different types of services yet cater to the same market. By networking you can easily get a lot of paying clients. You can also offer taking photos of some pets after they’ve been groomed and give them for free for pet groomers and veterinarians to hang on their walls as free advertisement for your services.

Another part of building a business is making sure you will be noticed and recognized. One sure way of achieving this is choosing a catchy and witty name for your business. Part of your marketing strategy is to build a brand and establish a positive reputation. Having these will well get you on your way to having a booming business. Utilize all available marketing strategies such as brochures, flyers and calling cards. Build your website and create a portfolio where prospective clients can view samples of your work and know your options for pet stock photos. Selling your pet photographs online as stock is also one effective way to earn more.

Once you’ve established yourself in the community as a great pet photographer you can think about maintaining a client base by being active in pet events such as dog shows, horse dressage contests, and the like. This will further expose you to potential clients who will want to hire your services.

Photography is full of technical terms, from simple and easy to understand words to highfalutin jargon. Then there are also the funny, strange sounding words that make us smile as we wonder what it means. I gathered a list of these terms that may sound silly but are quite important in the language of photography:

Scrim – this is thin material (usually fabric, but seamless paper is also used) that is placed between the subject and the light to reduce its harshness or intensity. It can be made of a gauzy, almost transparent sheet that becomes part of a diffusion panel when it is fastened on a frame. Scrims are quite handy since they are lightweight and portable, they don’t cost much and they’re very effective. Scrims are often used for outdoor shoots when you don’t want the glare of the sun to cause blown out spots or make your model squint.

Hot shoe – this is when, after hours of walking around taking pictures, your shoes and feet start to get hot. Kidding! This term refers to the clip at the top of your camera where you attach your external flash unit. It electrically links the flash to the shutter mechanism and synchronizes the two when the shutter button is triggered.

Snoot – ‘Snoot’ sounds like ‘snout’ and come to think of it, it does look like one. This is a cone shaped shield or cylinder that is attached to a light head such as a flashgun to project a concentrated light beam to the subject. It prevents light spill and allows you to direct the light to a smaller area than if there was no snoot.

Parallax – this is the image difference between what you see in the viewfinder and what the lens sees and captures. The viewfinder is not in the same exact spot as the lens, more often than not it is an inch or two above it, and so there is a variation which gets more noticeable the closer the subject is to the camera.

GoBo – slang for ‘goes beyond optics’, a gobo is something that changes or blocks the beam of light as it leaves your light source. There might be areas in your setup that you do not want lighted and this is where a gobo can come in handy. These can also be used for effect, such was with colored glass gobos or metal gobos formed into shapes (like stencils) which will create similar shadows shapes that adds to the elements in the shot. If your light beam can be adjusted from soft to strong light, it can then either make the shapes soft and diffused or hard and well defined.

The stock image industry is filled to the brim with all kinds of images that cater to a global market. The intent is to cover the customers’ image needs. A lot of these are for straightforward images such as product shots but there is also a huge market for images that present an abstract concept, such as a visual representation of the concept of ‘business’ or ‘health’. Oftentimes, these kinds of shots are harder to capture since you are trying to transform an idea into something more concrete, which is the image. The following are three popular abstract concepts with helpful tips on how you can create stock photos that represent them:

1. Love – put your own spin to cliché images that show the concept of love such as people hugging or kissing, red paper hearts, heart balloons, chocolate hearts and the like. Although your image may be perfectly exposed and composed, it could get buried under the thousands of similar images from other good photographers. Instead of a young couple kissing, why not make it an old couple instead. Instead of composing some chocolate hearts on a white background, why not have someone about to eat the chocolate heart instead. By going a step further, you are separating yourself from the pack. Keep in mind that the concept of ‘love’ has many levels, such as ‘familial love’ and ‘romantic love’. Try to compose shots which portray various kinds of love.Examples of images that convey ‘love’ are a father holding his baby, a child and her pet, and a mother hugging her elderly parent.

2. Health and Fitness – nowadays, people of all ages are very health conscious and there are millions of products and services that offer the concept of a healthy lifestyle. The concept of good health is dear to our hearts and images that convey this are widely popular. When creating a shot, first imagine what you would consider as promoting health and fitness. Common topics would be diet and exercise so the next step is to use a subject or shoot a scene that shows this. People jogging, vitamin pills, gym equipment, and healthy looking people exercising are some examples. Again, the trick is to avoid shots similar to what others are offering. Play with your camera angle, the framing, the depth of field, etc. to further push your concept.

3. Work/Business – the most common stock images that show the concept of business are people in business attire, briefcases, office desks and handshakes. There is nothing wrong with having a good quality stock image that shows any of these examples but you must remember that the competition has similar images of their own. To add your own creative touch, why not make use of workers that are less noticed and who normally do not wear business suits to work such as fishermen or construction workers.

Whatever concept you are trying to present, always keep in mind that these are for stock and as such, need to have commercial and resale value. Customers should be able to use them to promote their own products and services. Also the idea should be immediately clear to the customers and not make them wonder what is the message you are trying to get across.